Upper Murray FL 2019

JOHNNY GASTEV

Team Captain
Jan 7, 2008
317
107
Lavington
AFL Club
West Coast
I’m thinking after looking at the scores there seems to be blowouts most weeks.
Top 3 sorted and Corryong and Federals fighting it out for the last spot.
A combined 3 goals from those two clubs yesterday doesn’t look good for the Competition
Just imagine if Corryong and Federals merged.....🙄
 

Old Kenny

Team Captain
Sep 9, 2007
543
736
up there
AFL Club
Sydney
I’m thinking after looking at the scores there seems to be blowouts most weeks.
Top 3 sorted and Corryong and Federals fighting it out for the last spot.
A combined 3 goals from those two clubs yesterday doesn’t look good for the Competition
To be expected rip. Just scanning through the three Corryong based sides there’s no more that 7 locals in each senior side. So a team like cudgewa recruits the most top liners and wham, we have the premiership favourite. Could be Corryong or Federal next year with the right coach but it’s unsustainable. All this was said last year. It wasn’t supported so we move on.
 

JOHNNY GASTEV

Team Captain
Jan 7, 2008
317
107
Lavington
AFL Club
West Coast
To be expected rip. Just scanning through the three Corryong based sides there’s no more that 7 locals in each senior side. So a team like cudgewa recruits the most top liners and wham, we have the premiership favourite. Could be Corryong or Federal next year with the right coach but it’s unsustainable. All this was said last year. It wasn’t supported so we move on.
Agree OK, the league will be back in the same place in 5 years unless there’s some massive influx of local players.
 

Fruit

Premiership Player
Jul 24, 2012
3,309
3,620
AFL Club
Collingwood
To be expected rip. Just scanning through the three Corryong based sides there’s no more that 7 locals in each senior side. So a team like cudgewa recruits the most top liners and wham, we have the premiership favourite. Could be Corryong or Federal next year with the right coach but it’s unsustainable. All this was said last year. It wasn’t supported so we move on.
I wish they would reconsider. Makes so much sense to everyone except those that are too stubborn to swallow their pride.
 

Old Kenny

Team Captain
Sep 9, 2007
543
736
up there
AFL Club
Sydney
Correct me if I'm wrong but these two are based in the same town aren't they?
Yes mate. Same town same ground. Corryong was generally made up of townsfolk and Federal was mostly farmers but that’s changed a bit in the last couple of decades. Up until this year both teams had separate clubrooms. Over the covid break a single multipurpose building has been built to house both clubs and a couple of other user groups.
 

Old Kenny

Team Captain
Sep 9, 2007
543
736
up there
AFL Club
Sydney
I mean Cudgewa, Feds and Corryong merge and join the Tallangatta League. Tumba could go to Farrah League. Bullioh could go it alone or start discussions with another TDFL side again.
Can’t see that anything has changed from twelve months ago when it was proposed. Pretty unlikely I’d say.
 

bidge

Debutant
Sep 7, 2007
76
54
Colonial Stadium
AFL Club
Geelong
Very similar to the conversations which we all had at the end of 2019. Two years down the track and things haven’t changed in the UM.



The strong clubs stay around the mark, or get stronger and the weaker clubs continue to struggle. The amount of money which is put into a club running is now astronomical.

I personally can’t see Border Walwa getting involved at a football level again, and unfortunately, Federal/Corryong have player numbers but results are very poor.

We are still seeing people from Albury-Wodonga heavily involved in each of the clubs. Our league relies on the support from everyone to grow and with the juniors coming through I am not sure what the future holds for UM.



We sound like a broken record…



I agree it is fantastic to see reserve football being played, but again teams are getting blown out and player depth is very poor, which impacts a senior side being destroyed by 30+ goals a week. How long is this going to the tolerated by the average footballer? When does it get to hard? When do they choose to spend time with family? Or play closer to home?



I don’t know the fix, I am not in that type of position, this is purely an observation for the hope we can see these local leagues continue.
 

JOHNNY GASTEV

Team Captain
Jan 7, 2008
317
107
Lavington
AFL Club
West Coast
Very similar to the conversations which we all had at the end of 2019. Two years down the track and things haven’t changed in the UM.



The strong clubs stay around the mark, or get stronger and the weaker clubs continue to struggle. The amount of money which is put into a club running is now astronomical.

I personally can’t see Border Walwa getting involved at a football level again, and unfortunately, Federal/Corryong have player numbers but results are very poor.

We are still seeing people from Albury-Wodonga heavily involved in each of the clubs. Our league relies on the support from everyone to grow and with the juniors coming through I am not sure what the future holds for UM.



We sound like a broken record…



I agree it is fantastic to see reserve football being played, but again teams are getting blown out and player depth is very poor, which impacts a senior side being destroyed by 30+ goals a week. How long is this going to the tolerated by the average footballer? When does it get to hard? When do they choose to spend time with family? Or play closer to home?



I don’t know the fix, I am not in that type of position, this is purely an observation for the hope we can see these local leagues continue.
Great point but if the league hierarchy aren’t open to a merger it’s going to be last man standing. I think Cudgy are secretly hoping the 2 Corryong based clubs fold and they join the TDFL as their own entity alongside Bullioh. If I was Tumba I’d be looking at merger/relocation options now.
 
Nov 20, 2011
6,253
5,909
South Australia
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Other Teams
Portsmouth
Great point but if the league hierarchy aren’t open to a merger it’s going to be last man standing. I think Cudgy are secretly hoping the 2 Corryong based clubs fold and they join the TDFL as their own entity alongside Bullioh. If I was Tumba I’d be looking at merger/relocation options now.

Surely the what option is for the two Corryong clubs to merge...
 

bidge

Debutant
Sep 7, 2007
76
54
Colonial Stadium
AFL Club
Geelong
Great to see some conversation on this topic…



Unfortunately, this seems the way the league is going….It will become a survival race.

How long do we all see it lasting? We have been having a discussion for at least three of four years now? For those people up watching games each week is it getting worse?



Both Corryong and Federals have had a massive turnover of players, I am sure some people would like to see them merge. I wonder how realistic that is moving forward.



The UM have stated numerous times it won’t take teams on unless they are interested in being a part of the league. But is there an option to find a new team? Would Wodonga Saints be interested in starting again? Relocating to the Upper Murray?



If you break down the current teams, and ones of the past a large majority of players are travelling from Wodonga to play in the standard of the Upper Murray. Would it assist Saints in recruiting players they could basically be a single entity, not fighting any of the local clubs as they currently do in the TDFL.



If Corryong/Federal do merge and Wodonga Saints join, the league would be in a much stronger position.



Having 5 strong teams would be such a benefit not only the football side but also improve the economic sustainability of the league.



Again, purely just an opinion. I don’t feel any of this will actually happen.
 

Steele13

All Australian
Mar 19, 2019
893
4,624
AFL Club
Essendon
Great point but if the league hierarchy aren’t open to a merger it’s going to be last man standing. I think Cudgy are secretly hoping the 2 Corryong based clubs fold and they join the TDFL as their own entity alongside Bullioh. If I was Tumba I’d be looking at merger/relocation options now.
Just out of curiosity, why would Cudge be hoping that? Do you think they'd want to go into the tdfl as their own entity?
 

Rip vanwinkel

All Australian
Jul 1, 2012
920
649
AFL Club
Carlton
Great point but if the league hierarchy aren’t open to a merger it’s going to be last man standing. I think Cudgy are secretly hoping the 2 Corryong based clubs fold and they join the TDFL as their own entity alongside Bullioh. If I was Tumba I’d be looking at merger/relocation options now.
I couldn’t imagine the Beechy boys hanging around if that was the Case.
 

Steele13

All Australian
Mar 19, 2019
893
4,624
AFL Club
Essendon
Really seems from the outside like they pulled the pin without putting in too much effort to look at possible alternatives. Disastrous for the league
 

Old Kenny

Team Captain
Sep 9, 2007
543
736
up there
AFL Club
Sydney
Really seems from the outside like they pulled the pin without putting in too much effort to look at possible alternatives. Disastrous for the league
Wether they pulled the lever early or not I’m not real sure. One thing I do know is that it’s hard enough to get volunteers to come to home games. Sure as s**t they aren’t travelling to a neutral venue a couple of hours away.
 

Steele13

All Australian
Mar 19, 2019
893
4,624
AFL Club
Essendon
Wether they pulled the lever early or not I’m not real sure. One thing I do know is that it’s hard enough to get volunteers to come to home games. Sure as sh*t they aren’t travelling to a neutral venue a couple of hours away.
Could they have played finals only?
 
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